


Brothers: A Birthday for Two

by winterune



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Brothers, Family, Gen, Promises, birthday surprise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 01:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11498688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterune/pseuds/winterune
Summary: Saeyoung had promised his brother a lot of things—which he never had the chance to fulfill. So now he was going to fulfill them one by one. Starting with this birthday.Saeran is still recovering from the Mint Eye incident. He is getting better at controlling his rage, and he is getting better at filtering the lies from the truths. His brother might not have kept all the promises he had made, but it was because of him that Saeran had continued to live.June 11 is approaching and Hyunsoo has the perfect idea of what to do.





	Brothers: A Birthday for Two

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for Seven's birthday. It took a while to finish it (a couple weeks or so) and took another while before I decide to post it. This is my longest fic yet and I admit that it was quite hard, yet quite rewarding, to finally finish this. I took some inspiration from one of sae-you-sae-me's headcanons (Enchoi Your Birthday from their EnChoi Your Friday series) from their tumblr and I have their permission to post the story here. I love this story and I hope you do too. 
> 
> So here it is. Happy belated birthday, Seven and Saeran!
> 
> PS. I named the MC "Hyunsoo" and I set her up to have the same age as Saeyoung and is a college student (not a really relevant info, but the college thing is mentioned a bit in the story, so I just wanted to tell this in advance).

It hadn’t been long since the incident with Mint Eye and Saeran was still recovering. He was still quiet on most days and he still kept mostly to his room. There were still times when he would scream in the middle of the night and times when he would just stare into space. And every time, Saeyoung always made sure that he was there. No matter what Saeran did—hit him, choke him, scream at him—Saeyoung would be there to calm him down—that it was over, it was a nightmare, and he was safe. And slowly, Saeyoung saw the hatred and confusion in Saeran’s eyes begin to disappear. Whatever drug they had kept him under were slowly coming out of his system. And sometimes, Saeyoung would spot him sitting in the living room, watching TV; or he would join him at the table for dinner; and Saeyoung would see the light coming back to his brother’s eyes even just for a brief moment.

Then June came and it was time for their birthday. It would be the first birthday Saeyoung celebrated with his brother in eight years. And he vowed to make it the best birthday Saeran ever had.

His phone in his hand, Saeyoung contacted the first person that came to mind.

“Hello?” Hyunsoo’s voice reached his ear.

“Hey,” Saeyoung said, keeping his voice quiet. Saeran was sleeping in his room next door. “Sorry for calling so late.”

“That’s okay. What’s up?”

“You know how our birthday’s in two weeks, right?”

A soft gasp. “I didn’t know,” Hyunsoo exclaimed softly in mock surprise.

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Saeyoung retorted. But even as he frowned, his frown didn’t last long once he heard her giggle. He closed his eyes and absorbed the sound.

“So what? You want to throw a surprise party for him?”

A ghost of a smile appeared on Saeyoung’s face. “You just read my mind.”

It would just be something simple. A small birthday party with the new family he’d made—the new family he hadn’t introduced Saeran to properly. And he had just the perfect idea.

Hyunsoo listened in silence, and once he was done:

“Okay,” she said, paused, then added hesitantly, “What about you? What do you want?”

Saeyoung knew what he wanted—to see Saeran’s smile. But he only said, “You’ll help me, right?”

There was no pause when Hyunsoo said, “Of course.” 

* * *

  

Saeyoung had promised his brother a lot of things—which he never had the chance to fulfill when he left the house. So now he was going to fulfill them one by one. Starting with this birthday.

Early the next morning, he opened up a chatroom in the messenger app. But no one was there. He waited, and after a few minutes, he was about to leave the app when a notification appeared—Hyunsoo had entered the chatroom.

“It’s 5 AM,” she texted in a way of greeting. “What do you think everyone’s doing?” She inserted a laughing emoji after it.

Of course everyone was asleep—Saeyoung knew that. Sometimes he forgot that everyone else had a normal sleeping cycle.

“And yet you’re here,” he texted, feeling mischievous.

“‘Cause I figured you’d start a birthday surprise meeting so early in the morning.”

“How thoughtful of you.”

Saeyoung couldn’t help but smile and he could go on and on just chatting with her, but he had more urgent things to discuss. Everyone was still asleep. He had half a mind to give them all a wake-up call with the blasting music he’d hacked into their phones last night. Of course he had hidden CCTV cameras in their rooms ready to record everything. But four pissed off people was not the best way to start a meeting so early in the morning.

So Saeyoung just told them about his plan—the surprise birthday party he was going to hold for Saeran at his home in two weeks. Of course they’re all invited. It would just be a small party. He wasn’t sure Saeran could handle many people right now. And he wanted to officially invite his brother to his new family. He asked Yoosung’s help with the cake and Zen’s help with the music and Jaehee’s help with the food. Hyunsoo was in charge of the decorations of course and he asked Jumin to bring Ellie—of course that’s not going to happen, but he could always ask. Or better yet: he could just kidnap the cat. Saeran would love her. That could be Jumin’s present.

“I have work to do so I’m logging off. Ask Hyunsoo for any details.”

After he received Hyunsoo’s confirmation that everything would be all right, he logged off.

Saeyoung took a deep breath. One step was done. One promise. That Saeyoung would give his brother the birthday party with the birthday cake and birthday presents his brother had envied the kids his age to have and had never received from their mother.

There was a box beside his desk. He’d ordered it weeks ago. He looked to his desk and his computer, at the opened program window and list of codes on the monitor. Saeyoung only had two weeks to make this. There was a lot of time. He could do it.

He looked to the window. He’d drawn his curtains open and he could see the sky already lightening. Not exactly so early in the morning. 

* * *

 

For the last couple of days, Saeyoung had been cooped up in his room. Usually, Saeran would find his brother in the living room, or the computer room, or the kitchen—basically anywhere _he_ was, except his room. It was annoying. Especially when every time he saw his brother, all Saeran wanted was to choke the air out of Saeyoung’s lungs. And all he saw in Saeyoung’s eyes were guilt and remorse and hatred—not at him, but at what was done to him.

Hurting himself or hurting Saeyoung were out of the question. So Saeran got better at controlling it—that urge to hurt and destroy. And he got better at filtering the lies Rika fed him from the truths. And with that, he began to remember the little details from the past—like how Saeyoung had taken their mother’s beating for him, or when he brought all those books home secretly and let him read it, or when he taught him everything about the sky. His brother might not have kept all the promises he had made, but it was because of him that Saeran had continued to live.

Of course, there was no way Saeran would ever admit that to anyone.

It was the fourth day after Saeyoung kept to his room—which still felt weird because why would Saeyoung keep to his room? He had left that stupid agency.

And when Saeran went to the kitchen for some breakfast, he found sandwich slices neatly prepared on a plate on the counter. He couldn’t understand his brother sometimes. Even busy with work, Saeyoung still found the time to make _him_ breakfast. So Saeran sat down behind the counter and ate some of the sandwich—tuna and mayo.

On his way to his third slice, Saeran heard crashing from the living room. He leaped up and rushed out the kitchen—

Only to find nothing.

But a door was opened, and curses came from within.

“I swear, these brothers! One day I’ll—”

“Vanderwood! You okay?”

Saeran knew whose voice it belonged to before Hyunsoo came running from around the corner. She stopped short at seeing him, eyes blinking, before a groaning, scowling, grunting Vanderwood appeared from the open doorway.

“Seriously! What is he—a safe-keeper of every junk he found lying around the streets? He needs to clean the goddamned room once in a while,” Vanderwood complained. But Hyunsoo wasn’t listening and he followed Hyunsoo’s line of sight, to find Saeran standing by the kitchen doorway, a slice of sandwich in hand.

Saeran dipped his head stiffly. “Morning.”

“Morning,” Vanderwood scoffed. “It’s already the afternoon.”

Hyunsoo nudged his ribs hard that he frowned. “Whatever,” he grunted. “Tell your brother I’m not some maid to be ordered around.”

Though he went back inside the storage to clean up whatever mess Saeyoung kept there.

But Hyunsoo didn’t leave her spot. A small smile appeared on her face. “You’ve had lunch I see,” she said.

Saeran looked at his sandwich and shrugged. “Breakfast.”

Hyunsoo didn’t falter at his dismissive tone. Instead, she only asked him to follow her back into the kitchen. “Want something to drink with that?”

“This _is_ my home, you know,” Saeran retorted, only to wince because this was the first time he admitted this house to be his home. Still, he followed her back into the kitchen and sat down by the counter.

Hyunsoo, apparently, caught that, because that small smile remained on her face and he wondered what his brother liked about her.

“I didn’t know other people were here,” Saeran said quietly as he watched Hyunsoo poured him orange juice from the fridge.

“Saeyoung asked us to come.”

“To clean?”

Hyunsoo laughed. “Well no. He asked Vanderwood to come and clean the house. When I came by and saw him scowling and grunting all by himself, I decided to lend a hand.”

“Huh.”

Silence fell—an uncomfortable one at that. Saeran never said sorry to Hyunsoo for using her like that. And Hyunsoo never called him for it either. He didn’t know where he stood with her now.

_Do you know what my brother’s doing?_

She probably knew. But for some reason, the words wouldn’t leave his mouth. Instead, he said, “It’s my birthday next week,” and Saeran wanted to choke himself to death once the words left his mouth. What the hell was he saying?!

But Hyunsoo only nodded. “Yeah, I heard.”

Of course she had heard. It was Saeyoung’s birthday too.

“What do you think my brother would like?”

Again the stupid questions! But Hyunsoo didn’t seem to mind. In fact, Saeran could see she was trying to suppress a smile.

Hyunsoo took a seat across from him and said seriously, “Do you want an honest answer?”

The question made him wary. “I don’t think I do,” he said hesitantly.

“I’ll give you an honest answer anyway.” Saeran frowned. Well, this girl could be as infuriating as his brother if she wanted to. “You want to know what Saeyoung wants? I think he would want to see your smile on your birthday.”

Saeran almost choked on his juice. “That’s bullshit!”

Hyunsoo chuckled. “Yeah, I know. But that’s the truth—at least I think it is.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“You have to know that the events of the last couple of months had traumatized him. Seeing his brother working in a place like that, when all this time he’d thought you’ve been living happily somewhere?”

Saeran looked anywhere but Hyunsoo’s eyes. No one, not even Saeyoung, had brought up the subject so bluntly like that.

“I know you’ve had your share of traumatizing events too,” came Hyunsoo’s voice again, soft and soothing. “So why don’t we do this?”

Saeran looked up to see Hyunsoo’s wide grin. He knew he wouldn’t like what she was going to say.

“Let’s give Saeyoung a surprise party.”

* * *

 

It wasn’t really hard to juggle two parties simultaneously, especially when those two parties were actually one, but a surprise for two entirely different people. The decorations wouldn’t be a problem. They’re still using Saeyoung’s original plan, only now they had to make everything double. Hyunsoo made another group chat consisting of her, Yoosung, Jumin, Jaehee, and Zen to plan for both parties at once.

“So we’re giving each brother a separate party?” Zen asked.

“No, it’s still the same party, but twice the size,” Hyunsoo said. “We definitely need two cakes, Yoosung, and whatever you do, don’t let Saeyoung know you’re making one for him—and don’t let Saeran know you’re making one for him too. We’ll also add the music Saeyoung would want in the party, and what Saeran would want in the party. And the food too.”

“This is getting complicated,” Zen said. “Why not just make it a party for two? Why must we make separate parties?”

“No, it’s still the same party, hyung, but with two different flavors,” Yoosung tried to explain. “And roger that, Hyunsoo. Saeyoung-hyung said he wanted to bake the cake with me. And I guess I should give the offer to Saeran too.”

“Okay, just don’t let them find out.”

“This would be more efficient if we just hold one party for both brothers,” Jumin commented.

“I agree with Mr. Han. Doing everything twice the size is not only inefficient but also costs a lot of money. Plus, who would eat all those food we order?” added Jaehee.

“Oh come on! Why are you all like this? They deserve to have this party, okay? They deserve to be happy! And I’m going to make that happen,” Hyunsoo said in finality.

Hyunsoo knew what they said were true, but she had already promised Saeran they’d give a surprise party for Saeyoung, and the only way they could do that without giving away that they were already in the process of preparing something for Saeran was to make another party incorporated inside Saeyoung’s party. She already had the image in her mind. Two cakes, double the presents, double the food. Everything would be perfect.

Apparently, it wasn’t such a hard task. Saeyoung had already listed everything he wanted at the party. He had asked in the group if it weren’t too troublesome and everyone assured him that it was not. Saeyoung had repeatedly expressed his sorry that he couldn’t help much because there was something else he needed to prepare. And he hoped whatever it was he was preparing would be finish in time so he could still help them on the day of the party. Although everyone—especially Yoosung and Zen—told him repeated that it was _his_ birthday too so he should let them prepare everything.

And then came the day when they asked for Saeran’s preferences. Saeran hadn’t been as active as Saeyoung had been and when they asked what food they should prepare and what kind of music Saeran wanted, all Saeran said was “I don’t know” or “Just choose something” or “I’ll choose whatever you guys choose”.

Well, there was that factor that Saeran was still new to all of this—the party, the RFA itself. Maybe interacting with them wasn’t such a good idea. But on the days Hyunsoo came to visit the twins, she could see an improvement in the younger twin. Saeran was out of his room more often, accompanied her longer, and on the occasions when Saeyoung joined them, that dark look that always crossed his eyes whenever he saw his brother was gone.

So when Saeyoung went back into his room, Hyunsoo found herself alone with Saeran, and she decided to ask him what _he_ wanted. She was determined to get answers from him before she had to go back to her apartment. Their birthday was only four days away.

After much effort, she finally got him to say, so quiet she almost didn’t hear it, “Chocolate.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Chocolate cake,” Saeran said again. “If you could, I mean. It was his favorite.” Hyunsoo couldn’t come up with a response fast enough. “I—I mean, it’s a party for him, right?” he said, flustered. “So we should make a cake that _he_ would like. Right?”

Hyunsoo couldn’t contain a smile. “Of course. Chocolate cake it is. And what about the food? What do you think would be good?”

Hyunsoo came home later that afternoon feeling satisfied. She opened their exclusive birthday-for-two-surprise-party group chat and told everyone what she learned. It turned out, the music and food Saeyoung and Saeran requested were almost the same. The only difference was the cake: Saeyoung asked for vanilla and strawberry while Saeran asked for chocolate.

“Similar flavors,” Zen was the first to comment.

“I still think it costs too much money to prepare so much,” Jaehee added. “Since the party was originally planned for seven people, we shouldn’t make everything double. If Saeyoung decided to help us set up the party, wouldn’t it be suspicious when he saw how much we have prepared?”

“I agree,” Jumin said. “Let us just follow Saeyoung’s original plan.”

“But then we wouldn’t have a surprise for Saeyoung,” Hyunsoo complained.

“The surprise will be Saeran’s present for him.”

No one responded for a while.

“Dude, how do you know Saeran’s giving him a present?” Zen asked.

“It is obvious he is preparing one for him. I don’t know what, but rest assured that he is.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to understand.”

“Don’t talk down to me!”

“I am not talking down to you, Zen. I am merely stating you—all of you—do not have to understand what Saeran is preparing for Luciel.”

“That is not what I didn’t understand, dammit!”

“Now, now, stop fighting, please, both of you,” Hyunsoo’s chat appeared in the middle of their nonsensical argument. When no one else replied, Hyunsoo added, “OK, let’s say that’s our surprise for him—but wouldn’t it be _Saeran’s_ surprise for him instead of _our_ surprise?”

“We still have the cakes,” Yoosung said. “I’ll make two cakes, one for each of them.”

“Well, I guess that will do.”

Hyunsoo was still not sure, but everyone seemed to agree in all of this so Hyunsoo had no choice but to comply.

It was two days before the party. The party preparation was going smoothly. She only needed to juggle between the preparation and school work, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.

Hyunsoo was just finishing a party meeting in the chatroom with the other four when her phone rang and Saeyoung’s face popped out on her screen.

“Hi,” he was the one who greeted her first.

“Hey.” Hyunsoo couldn’t help but smile every time Saeyoung called her, even if it was nothing important and they were only giggling like children. But Saeyoung sounded tired and it got her worried. “You OK?”

“Huh—what—me? Oh—yeah, I’m OK.” He was stammering, like he always did whenever she asked if he was OK. “Ah…that’s not what I wanted to talk about,” he mumbled.

Hyunsoo smiled again. “What did you want to talk about?”

There was no response for a while, not even a hint that he was still there, that she called his name.

“Sorry,” was his immediately reply.

“That’s OK,” she said with a chuckle.

“No, I mean sorry. Like—I’m sorry. That’s what I wanted to say.”

Hyunsoo’s eyebrows furrowed. “For what?”

“I haven’t been able to call you lately. I haven’t been able to spend much time with you. You always came by, but I kept locking myself up in my room. I’m sorry… for that.”

Hyunsoo couldn’t find anything to say. She wanted to laugh that he was overthinking trivial things yet she wanted to cry _because_ he was overthinking trivial things. She was touched.

“How many times do I have to tell you that you don’t have to think too much about me? If you have something to do, do it. I’ll be beside you all the way.”

Hyunsoo swore she heard a small gasp, and she swore that Saeyoung’s voice shook ever so slightly when he said, “That’s not all. I haven’t been able to help you guys. I haven’t—”

“Saeyoung, listen to me. It’s your birthday. It’s your party. Whatever you say it is, it _is_ still your party. I know you’re making a present for Saeran. Just finish that. We’ll handle everything else.” He didn’t say anything. “What are you making him?”

He was hesitant at first, but then he said, “A promise.”

* * *

 

The big day came.

The party would be held in the afternoon. Zen had come early and asked Saeran to help him choose a present for Saeyoung. Saeran had been reluctant, but Zen was being pushy and Saeran admitted defeat. Before they left though, Zen had promised Hyunsoo he would keep an extremely watchful eye on the younger twin, as this was his first time leaving the house.

Saeyoung, thankfully, exited his room after Saeran left. He had checked Saeran’s room only to find it empty.

“Where’s Saeran?” he asked her when he reached the living room.

“Zen took him out for a walk.” The surprised look on Saeyoung’s face was so comical, Hyunsoo was tempted to laugh and took a picture. “Don’t worry. He promise to take good care of him. Besides, this gives us the chance to decorate the room undisturbed.”

So they prepared the decorations. Hyunsoo had bought a lot—balloons, cut-out stars, banners. It turned out, Saeyoung had to stay at home until late morning to give finishing touches for Saeran’s present. So he didn’t help Yoosung bake the cake.

_Well, that’s for the best_ , Hyunsoo thought silently.

It wasn’t long before the decorations were done. They had hung a happy birthday banner at the center, blew silver and blue balloons and hung them in various places, set up dangling cut-out stars from the ceiling. Jumin and Jaehee came with the food and drinks—and music from Zen, since he was still out with Saeran. Yoosung came last with the cake. He only brought one—the one for Saeran. He didn’t say where the other one was.

The clock struck four and everything was set—the cake, the candles, the food, the party-poppers. All they needed to wait was Zen to bring Saeran home. The lights were carefully dimmed. They hid in their respective places. And then they heard voices. And a click of a lock. And a door opening and closing. And footsteps.

The door to the living room is opened, and a voice unmistakably to be Saeran’s grumbled, “Why the hell are the lights off?”

He reached for the switch, the lights went on, and everyone jumped, screaming, “Happy birthday, Saeran!” while they pulled their party poppers.

Saeran was dumbfounded. Eyes wide, he didn’t move from his spot as he tried to comprehend what just happened.

Zen was the first to congratulate him, as he laughed under his breath and ruffled Saeran’s hair. Then Jumin, and Jaehee, and Yoosung, and Hyunsoo. Saeyoung was last, carrying Yoosung’s vanilla-and-strawberry cake—just like the one Saeran had seen in a magazine Saeyoung brought home all those years ago. A cake Saeran had wanted so much but knew he could never have. And above it were words saying _HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAERAN_ and candles set around it.

“Happy birthday, brother,” Saeyoung said with a grin.

“I don’t understand,” Saeran said slowly. “What is this?”

“A surprise party, you idiot. What else?” Saeran could only blink. The surprise still hadn’t left him. “Make a wish,” Saeyoung said gently. Saeran, not knowing what else to do, did as he was told—he closed his eyes for a brief moment and blew at the candles. When the last candle went out, everyone clapped and shouted and they led Saeran to the table and set the cake down and let him make the first slice.

* * *

 

Everyone had their share of the cake, and it was delicious, and Saeyoung told everyone how Saeran had always wanted this vanilla-and-strawberry cake he once saw in a magazine. Though they never knew what that cake tasted like, but _this_ cake was delicious. Then Saeyoung left to fetch something from his room and Saeran scooted over to Hyunsoo and grumbled that he never thought they were already planning a birthday party for him. Hyunsoo only grinned and said it was Saeyoung’s idea to give him a surprise party.

Saeyoung came back from his room and Saeran scooted away. “Come here,” he said. Saeran did. He had his hands on his back and Saeran was feeling wary.

“Do you remember what I promised you?” Saeyoung asked.

Saeran didn’t reply. He didn’t know what he should say.

“I promised you a lot of things, and I never fulfilled most of them,” Saeyoung went on. “Do you remember when we were kids, and it was night, and you woke up from a nightmare?”

That had happened a lot of time in the past, but for some reason, Saeran knew what Saeyoung was talking about. “You took me to the window and showed me the stars.”

“And I promised you I’ll take you to a place where you can see all the stars in the night sky.”

That happened not long before Saeyoung left. The delusions of Saeyoung’s betrayal was mostly gone, but the hurt that his own brother had abandoned him—that would take a while to heal.

“Happy birthday,” Saeyoung said, holding out his hand. A small wrapped box lay over his up-turned palms.

“What is this?” Saeran asked, gingerly picking the box up.

“My promise.”

No one knew what Saeyoung had prepared for Saeran. With everyone’s urgings, Saeran opened the box there and then and inside was a small… ball. No, it wasn’t a ball. A circular object with lines and swirls engraved on the black metal surface.

Saeran narrowed his eyes. “Turn it,” Saeyoung said. He did, turning each half of the ball opposite ways. It clicked. Then dim blue light lit the engravings all around the ball. He didn’t know when the room turned dark. He didn’t know who switched off the lights. But one moment the room was bright and then the next, the little metal ball on Saeran’s hand was the only source of light.

And all of a sudden, the ball emitted a blinding white light that swept through the room and when Saeran opened his eyes again, the living room was gone and instead, they were standing amidst the galaxy.

Someone whistled.

Zen said under his breath, “What the hell…”

No one could say anything. It was beautiful. They could still make out the furniture around the room but everything was covered in glowing white, yellow, and red dots of light.

“You brought the stars to him,” was Hyunsoo’s comment.

“You promised to bring the stars to me,” Saeran said quietly. He glanced at his cake on the table. “And you promised I’ll be able to eat that cake.” His throat bobbed.

Saeran turned the metal ball back into its place and the stars vanished instantly, the lights automatically switched on. “I didn’t think you’d remember.”

“You’re my brother. Not a day goes by that I’ve forgotten you,” Saeyoung said. He sighed. “I made some terrible choices. I promised to get you out, but I left. I can understand if you wouldn’t want to forgive me. Heck, _I_ don’t want to forgive me. But the past had already happened, and there’s no way we could change it. So what I’m trying to ask you is if we could start over again?”

Saeran didn’t answer for a long while. “No,” he said quietly, and it almost made Saeyoung’s heart stop. But then he smiled, just a small smile, a little quirk up the corners of his mouth. “We don’t have to start over.” His smile widened, just slightly, as he stared at his brother. “Thank you.”

* * *

 

“And… stop!” Zen exclaimed. “As much as I hate to break this beautiful brotherly moment, the party’s not over yet. Aren’t we forgetting the other birthday boy? Yoosung, fetch the cake!”

“Oh, right, happy birthday, hyung,” Saeran said.

“Oh, yeah, haha,” Saeyoung replied with a laugh. “But—wait—what?” His eyes found Hyunsoo, who was putting a birthday hat on him. “What are you doing?”

“A surprise party.”

“Yeah, we just had that surprise party.”

“For _you_ , idiot. You didn’t think Saeran would give you one, did you?” Hyunsoo couldn’t help grinning that she actually managed to surprise Saeyoung for once.

“Ah—no… it was her idea.”

Hyunsoo pouted. “Oh come on! Play along! He’ll be even happier if he thought the party was from you.”

“One party is enough for me, thank you. So I’ll just…”

“You’re not going anywhere, mister,” Zen said, grabbing Saeran’s shoulders before he could escape. “We still have to take a photo.”

Saeran wanted to leave and Saeyoung was hugging Hyunsoo and kissing her head and Yoosung came with a chocolate cake, designed like Saeran’s, complete with the candles and the words _HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAEYOUNG_.

“Make a wish!” Yoosung said.

Saeyoung did. And he blew the candles. And everyone shouted and laughed and clapped and they spent the rest of the evening trying to eat everything they had prepared.

It was late and Jumin and Jaehee had gone home first. Zen was dozing on the couch while Hyunsoo and Yoosung were washing the dishes. Saeran had slipped away from the party at one time and came back once everything had quieted down. He found his brother at the dining table, staring absently at the cake Yoosung baked for him.

Saeyoung heard his approach and he smiled and nodded at the chair next to him. Saeyoung’s smile. Saeran hadn’t paid much attention to it but now that he was staring at it, he found himself comparing it to the smile he remembered from his memories, and he realized, for a jarring moment, how familiar that smile was. There was no mistake that Saeyoung had changed, but at the same time, his brother hadn’t changed at all.

“Hyung,” Saeran called him.

“Yeah?”

“Happy birthday.” He held out his hand and there was a frame. A digital frame in which he had put as many photos as he could find and gather, including photos from when they were children.

Saeyoung took it in his hands, knowing what it was when he saw it. The first photo that appeared was a photo of the new RFA after Hyunsoo joined. He slid his hand to the side of the monitor and another photo appeared, this one of the last RFA party he didn’t attend. The next photo was of himself and Yoosung in a game convention. Another one was a private party they had had in a restaurant.

It was filled with a lot of photos—photos of recent events, old events. It even had photos from years ago, even of events Saeyoung had forgotten until he saw the photos again.

“I asked everyone’s help to gather the photos,” Saeran said.

Then Saeyoung came upon a photo of himself and Hyunsoo and couldn’t help but flush.

He cleared his throat. “D—Did you hack my phone?”

“I hacked your laptop.”

Saeyoung bulked. “That was you? No wonder my laptop’s been giving me warning signals.”

And then he finally came to photos of himself and Saeran from when they were kids. They weren’t many, but there were some, and it made his throat tightened and his chest ached, even more so when he thought what gathering these might have done to his brother.

“You didn’t have to add these,” Saeyoung said quietly. “We could make new memories.”

But Saeran was shaking his head. “I wanted to.” He paused. “I needed to, hyung. I needed to know they’re not fake, that you were there, and you helped me. I needed to know.”

“Where did you get these?”

“I found them,” was Saeran’s only reply, with a small shrug. Saeyoung decided not to press any further.

By the time he finished looking at all the photos Saeran had given him, Saeran told him that there were still a lot of space and he could put whatever photos he wanted inside. And if ever the memory was full, Saeran could always add more.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this :) I'm sorry if it's too long or if there were some unneeded details. Even so, I hope you like it :)
> 
> Please leave a comment or two. I would love to know what you think and I'd love to improve my writing. Thanks again!


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